1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a washing machine, and more particularly to a washing machine having a spraying nozzle assembly which can evenly spray washing liquid circulated through a circulation pump onto the objects being washed.
2. Prior Arts
A washing machine is an appliance for separating dirt from objects being washed such as clothing by sequentially carrying out various cycles in the order of water feeding, washing, rinsing, dehydrating, and draining cycles.
While the above cycles are executed, dirt contained in the clothing separates from the clothing by means of a detergent or friction between the washing liquid and the clothing.
However, in conventional washing machines, the detergent particles can not completely dissolve in the washing liquid so that some of the detergent particles remain between a spin tub and an outer tub in its solid state. For this reason, the dirt can not easily separate from the clothing and a large quantity of detergent is required for properly cleaning the clothing.
Further, conventional washing machines repeat the water feeding and draining cycles several times in order to carry out the washing and rinsing cycles so that washing machines unnecessarily waste the washing liquid.
In order to overcome the above problems, various types of conventional washing machines have been proposed. One of the proposed washing machines is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,664.
FIG. 6 shows the conventional washing machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,664.
As shown in FIG. 6, a washing machine 500 comprises a housing 12 having a control panel 11 at its upper portion, an outer tub 15 disposed in housing 12 so as to receive the washing liquid, a spin tub 512 accommodated in outer tub 15 and formed at its side wall with a plurality of through holes 511, a motor 17 which generates a driving force for operating the washing machine 500, a power transmission 540 for transmitting the driving force from motor 17 to spin tub 512 and a circulation pump 525 disposed at the bottom of housing 12 so as to communicate with outer tub 15. Circulation pump 525 circulates the washing liquid through a circulation tube 521 into an adapter 520 or drains the washing liquid through a drain tube 533 into the exterior of the washing machine 500, alternatively.
Power transmission 540 includes a rotating shaft 542 connected to motor 17 through a belt 18 so as to receive the driving force from motor 17, a gear and link assembly 544 for rotating an agitator 548 mounted on the bottom wall of spin tub 512 in the forward and reversed directions in accordance with predetermined cycles and a connection member 546 for connecting agitator 548 to gear and link assembly 544.
A removable lid 515 having a sprinkling guide surface 516 is mounted on the upper portion of outer tub 15, and is provided at its underside with an annular guide member 514 having a discharge silt 513. In addition, a sprinkling nozzle 518 is formed between annular guide member 514 and removable lid 515 so as to spray the washing liquid to spin tub 512.
On the other hand, circulation pump 525 has a rotating shaft 528 which is integrally formed at its one end with a pulley 529. Pulley 529 of circulation pump 525 is connected to motor 17 by means of pulley 18 in such a manner that circulation pump 525 can receive the rotational force from motor 17.
The operation of the conventional washing machine being constructed as described above is as follows.
Firstly, when a user pushes an operating button installed on control panel 11, the washing liquid is introduced from the liquid source into a space 517 formed between removable lid 515 and guide member 514 by way of a washing water feed pipe 519 and adapter 520.
Then, the washing liquid that has been introduced into space 517 is sprinkled into the spin tub 512 through discharge silt 513 of guide member 514 and sprinkle nozzle 518 until a predetermined liquid level in spin tub 512 is achieved.
When the predetermined liquid level in spin tub 512 is achieved, a liquid feed control valve 530 blocks liquid feed pipe 519 and, at the same time, motor 17 rotates in the forward direction. The rotational force of motor 17 is transmitted to agitator 548 by way of belt 18, rotating shaft 542 of power transmission 540, gear and link assembly 544 and connection member 546 so that agitator 548 rotates in the forward and reverse directions, thereby washing the clothes.
At the same time, the forward directional drive force of drive motor 17 is also transmitted to circulation pump 525 through belt 18 so that circulation pump 525 rotates in the forward direction during the washing cycle. Therefore, the washing liquid that has been introduced into outer tub 15 is discharged from outer tub 15 into circulation pump 525 through a discharge port 526 formed at the bottom wall of outer tub 15.
Upon receiving the washing liquid, circulation pump 525 compresses the washing water and draws the washing water up to adapter 520 through circulation tube 521. Then, the compressed washing water is introduced into space 517 and sprinkled to the clothing loaded in spin tub 512 through discharge slit 513 and sprinkling nozzle 518.
When the washing cycle has finished, the washing water filled in outer tub 15 is drained into the exterior of washing machine 500 through draining tube 533. At this time, motor 17 rotates in the reversed direction so as to rotate spin tub 512. As spin tub 512 rotates, the clothing loaded in spin tub 512 is subjected to centrifugal force so that the clothing is forced radially outward (i.e., toward the side wall of spin tub 512) and thereby washing liquid contained in the clothing is drained through a plurality of through holes 452 formed in the side wall of spin tub 512.
On the other hand, when motor 17 rotates in the reverse direction, circulation pump 525 connected to motor 17 also rotates in the reverse direction so that the washing liquid discharged from a plurality of through holes 452 is drained into the exterior of the washing machine 500 through circulation pump 525.
However, the conventional washing machine constructed as described above has the following disadvantages.
Firstly, the washing machine sprays the washing liquid through the sprinkling nozzle having a relatively small size so that it takes much time to spray a predetermined mount of the washing liquid into the outer tub.
Further, since the sprinkling nozzle is only formed at one spot of the outer tub, the washing machine does not evenly spray the washing liquid onto the clothing when the clothing is fully loaded in the spin tub.
Furthermore, the washing machine does not completely remove impurities such as foam formed between the outer tub and the spin tub when the impurities are formed at a place opposite to the sprinkling nozzle. The impurities formed between the outer tub and the spin tub interfere with the rotation of the spin tub, thereby causing energy loss.
Accordingly, there has been a necessity to provide a washing machine which not only sprays the circulated washing liquid onto the clothing evenly, but also completely removes the impurities formed between the outer tub and the spin tub, thereby improving the operating efficiency.